FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TREASURE COAST - PAGE 3

PALM BEACH -- The island home of Trumps, Kennedys and Pulitzers needs more homes for Smiths and Joneses. At least that is the view of regional planners, who say the resort town`s growth plan does not offer any solutions to finding housing for low- and moderate-income families. The comment, included in a 12-page staff report from the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, has town planners and policy-makers scratching their heads. "Well, we`re all thinking about it," said Town Council member Nancy Douthit.

In light of the sacrifice faced by furloughed federal workers - and public cynicism toward Congress these days -- South Florida Congressman Patrick Murphy announced on Thursday he will donate $8,700 of his pay to local charities. Murphy, a Democrat who moved from Fort Lauderdale to Jupiter to represent a Treasure Coast district, is the latest member to subject himself to a pay cut amid across-the-board federal budget cutbacks that will force more than a million federal workers to take unpaid time off. President Obama has made a similar gesture by pledging to give up 5 percent of his salary.

David Antunez wasn't on the original game roster and he didn't play a single minute of football in Palm Beach County this season. Nonetheless, the LaBelle kicker came up huge for the American team on Saturday night in the Palm Beach County -Treasure Coast High School All-Star Game at John I. Leonard, nailing the game-winning field goal in a 13-12 slugfest. Antunez, who opened the scoring with a first-quarter field goal, split the uprights from 28 yards out with 1:24 to play.

A bridge to carry Military Trail over the Hillsboro Canal moved closer to reality on Friday when regional planners endorsed a request by the city of Boca Raton to drop its opposition to the controversial span. The proposed bridge, which would be built jointly by Palm Beach and Broward counties, has drawn strong criticism from Boca Raton-area residents who say the connection would transform Military Trail into a major regional thoroughfare and flood their neighborhoods with traffic. However, the project is popular with commuters, with road builders looking for detour alternatives while Interstate 95 is under construction, and with Sawgrass Expressway officials who say it would bring more cars and tolls onto the underused highway.

As frequent visitors from New Jersey, Carl and Marie Ford expect to find sun and crashing surf on the beaches of the Treasure Coast. And that's what greeted them here Thursday as they went for a swim under clear skies and in 90-degree heat. What the Fords also found was that aside from a handful of young surfers who were coaxing short rides on choppy waves, they had one of the state's most pristine beaches to themselves. "We're sort of stuck here now," said Marie Ford, 55, a nurse, explaining that she and her husband had decided they could not abandon an elderly in-law who was staying in her home a half-mile from the beach even as Hurricane Frances headed in this direction.

Eager to move forward on port expansion and Everglades restoration, Florida officials on Thursday hailed U.S. House passage of a major water bill that paves the way for billions of dollars of federal spending on local projects. The bill authorizes $1.8 billion to clean up polluted water and send it south from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades. And it allows Broward County and Port Everglades to be reimbursed for work beginning next year to dredge and widen the port's channel to accommodate bigger cruise and cargo vessels.

A sleepy little bank no more, First Bank & Trust Co. of Indiantown said Friday it will buy Grand Bank & Trust, an institution more than four times its size. First Bank will pay $8.4 million for Grand Bank's 2.1 million shares of common stock, said Grand Bank President Russell Greene. The move comes only a few weeks after First Bank & Trust itself was sold to new owners who have raised cash from deep-pocketed backers. The new owners are a group of prominent Treasure Coast bankers, including Michael Brown Sr., former head of Harbor Federal Savings of Fort Pierce, and Hal Roberts Jr., former head of Port St. Lucie National Bank.

A Treasure Coast man accused of killing his parents when he was a teenager is expected to make a plea-change in his case. Tyler Hadley, is charged with murdering his parents by beating them to death with a hammer, and then throwing a party in their home on NE Grandeur Avenue in Port St. Lucie just hours after the crime. The slayings happened in July 2011, when Hadley was 17. He is now 20 years old and he's supposed to go on trial in March for the murders, but the prosecutor says he has just learned that Hadley will change his plea, from not guilty to either guilty or no contest.

Residents from Miami to West Palm Beach should wake up and realize what 32 more railroad closings a day will do to traffic around Dixie Highway. The long-distance passenger train service, All Aboard Florida, is a great initiative and on its way. But can it please consider using the CSX tracks for trains north of West Palm Beach to Orlando? It is clear All Aboard Florida has the right to use the tracks owned by Florida East Coast Railway. However, the improvement costs paid for by FEC, taxpayers and local communities — and the harm facing communities north of West Palm Beach, where the tracks run through the center of towns — is detrimental.